At the end of 1888 the Wholesale Society had become members of the Baking Society, and had taken out 240 shares. This was done, doubtless, in view of the fact that the Wholesale Society had consented to act as agents for the Baking Society’s biscuits. On the other hand, the trade which was being done in flour with the Wholesale Society was far from satisfactory, and at a meeting of the Baking Society’s committee, which took place in February of 1889, attention was called by the sub-committee to the fact that, of over 2,000 sacks of flour which had been purchased during the month, only 300 sacks had been bought from the Wholesale Society. It was agreed to call the attention of the Wholesale directors to this fact, and to state that the trade was going past them because their price was higher than the same flour was being purchased at elsewhere. As a result of this letter, the Wholesale Society appointed a deputation to meet with a deputation of the directors of the Baking Society for the purpose of considering the trading relations between the two societies. Exactly what the result of the meeting was, however, is not shown in the minutes; all that these contain being the statement that Mr M‘Culloch gave a very full report of what had taken place. From the frequency with which this subject had been cropping up in recent years, however, it was evident that there was something wrong somewhere. At this late date it is not possible to do more than guess at the reasons why the Wholesale Society was not in a position to compete, but it was probably owing to the fact that the Baking Society was now so large a purchaser of flour that it was able to buy from the millers on as good terms as the Wholesale Society itself could do.
AN ACCIDENT.
Notwithstanding the large number of vehicles which the Society had on the road, it had been wonderfully free from accidents of a serious nature. Hitherto the killing of the Tramway Company’s horse had been the most serious, and the results of that accident had been serious, not so much because of the accident itself, as because of the litigation which followed. Early in 1889, however, an accident occurred on the Albert Bridge, which although, fortunately, not so serious as it might have been, yet served to impress on the vanmen in the service of the Society the necessity for caution when driving through the streets of the city. Two men were run down on the bridge by one of the Society’s vans and injured, and the vanman was arrested and fined. The Society agreed to pay the fine, and also settled with the injured men for £10, but the vanman was dismissed from the service of the Society.
About this time a petition was again received from the vanmen with reference to holidays and Sunday labour. The men wished the three days’ holidays which they were allowed increased to six days, while they also wished payment for attending to the horses on Sundays. The committee could not see their way to make any further concession of holidays, but they agreed that men who had to spend a full day in the stable on Sundays should receive a day’s pay. This was probably the first occasion in Glasgow on which it was recognised that wages paid to vanmen and carters were for a six-day week, and that work on the seventh day should be paid for. In this matter as in so many others the Baking Society were pioneers, and it was not until more than twenty years had passed that the trade union was able to enforce all over the city the rule that Sunday work in the stables should be paid for.
RESIGNATION OF FOREMAN BAKER.
At the end of the 79th quarter Mr Lang, who had been foreman baker with the Society during all the time they had been in St James Street, resigned his situation, and a Mr Marshall was appointed. Mr Marshall came to the Society with excellent testimonials, but, somehow or other, after his appointment the number of complaints with regard to the quality of the bread increased steadily, and at times came in from a dozen societies at once. He was interviewed repeatedly by the committee and the necessity of maintaining a high standard in bread was impressed on him, but little improvement took place. At length it was discovered by the sub-committee that he was absent from work without leave, and he was suspended by them, and at the next meeting of the full committee was dismissed, and Mr Robert Fraser was appointed. From Mr Fraser’s appointment complaints became much less frequent.
There were districts where Co-operation was not yet firmly established, and through the policy of the directors, which made for helping societies wherever possible, small sums were still being lost occasionally. The next society to close its doors was Clippens. For some time it had been in low water, and as the Federation was finding it impossible to obtain payment the supply of bread was stopped. The committee of the Renfrewshire Co-operative Conference Association undertook, however, to try and get that association to become security for payment, and supplies were again granted, but only for a short time as, when the matter came before the Conference, the delegates refused to accept any responsibility. It was then arranged that payment should be made for the bread on delivery, and that payments should be made periodically for the purpose of reducing the debt of the society. In a very short time this arrangement also was departed from, and the society shortly afterwards collapsed, the assets only paying ½ per £ of the debts owing. There were other societies which were not paying their accounts regularly, and on several occasions these were written to and requested to make prompt payments. About this time, also, Cessnock Society went into liquidation, but were able to pay about twenty shillings in the pound.
RESIGNATION OF MANAGER.
Mr David Smith had been manager of the Society from the time when Mr Robert Craig resigned, in the summer of 1875; while prior to that time he had acted as secretary, and he had been a member of the committee from the first year of the Society’s existence, having been the representative of St Rollox Society. He had thus an unbroken acquaintance with the work of the Society as member of committee, secretary, and manager for almost twenty years; but the time had now arrived when he decided to sever his connection, and so, in October 1889, he intimated to the committee that he was resigning in order to commence business for himself. His resignation was accepted, and at the same meeting a special sub-committee was appointed to make inquiries from the heads of the various departments with the object of ascertaining whether it was possible to carry on the business without a general manager. The result of this inquiry was that the committee decided to rearrange the methods of business by giving each departmental manager full control of his department under the committee, thus obviating the necessity of appointing a general manager in the meantime. Instead of a general manager it was decided to appoint a cashier and accountant who should have full control of the office, and Mr James H. Forsyth, from the accountancy department of the Wholesale Society, was appointed.